eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Functional cell types in the mouse superior colliculus

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Ya-tang Li
   2. Markus Meister

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper will be of importance to visual neuroscientists, in particular those interested in the functional organization of subcortical visual pathways. The work provides evidence for a much greater diversity of functional cell types in the mouse superior colliculus than previously suggested, and that the functional organization of cell types in the superior colliculus is distinct from that of the retina. These results are based on an impressive data set. However, the conclusions require additional support.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. A nanobody toolbox to investigate localisation and dynamics of Drosophila titins and other key sarcomeric proteins

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Vincent Loreau
   2. Renate Rees
   3. Eunice HoYee Chan
   4. Waltraud Taxer
   5. Kathrin Gregor
   6. Bianka Mußil
   7. Christophe Pitaval
   8. Nuno Miguel Luis
   9. Pierre Mangeol
   10. Frank Schnorrer
   11. Dirk Görlich

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The work describes the generation of novel reagents, nanobodies, which are single molecule antibodies from alpacas, which the authors raised against specific domains of two giant fly muscle proteins called Sallimus and Projectin. These nanobodies, combined with the so-called DNA-Paint approach, enabled the authors to reach an unprecedented spatial resolution and define the position of those domains. Thereby, the authors could propose a model for the organization and extent of those proteins along muscle sarcomeres.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Multiple polarity kinases inhibit phase separation of F-BAR protein Cdc15 and antagonize cytokinetic ring assembly in fission yeast

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Rahul Bhattacharjee
   2. Aaron R Hall
   3. MariaSanta C Mangione
   4. Maya G Igarashi
   5. Rachel H Roberts-Galbraith
   6. Jun-Song Chen
   7. Dimitrios Vavylonis
   8. Kathleen L Gould

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is a well-designed study to show how phosphorylation of the intrinsically disordered regions can control their ability to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation and thus impact protein function. The authors report how regulation of the F-BAR-containing protein Cdc15 via phosphorylation impacts its ability to phase separate and promote cytokinesis. This paper is of interest to not just the field of cytokinesis, but also to the general field of protein chemistry which is interested in how phase separation controls protein function.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Uncertainty alters the balance between incremental learning and episodic memory

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jonathan Nicholas
   2. Nathaniel D Daw
   3. Daphna Shohamy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper posits that higher uncertainty environments should lead to more reliance on episodic memory, finding compelling evidence for this idea across several analysis approaches and across two independent samples. This is an important paper that will be of interest to a broad group of learning, memory, and decision-making researchers.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Neural activity tracking identity and confidence in social information

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Nadescha Trudel
   2. Patricia L Lockwood
   3. Matthew FS Rushworth
   4. Marco K Wittmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors use an elegant design to tackle a longstanding question about the extent to which learning social information relies on specialized computational and neural mechanism. They find that learning about ostensible others is more accurate than learning about non-social objects, despite identical statistical information, and that such effects are mediated by the dmPFC and pTPJ - regions previously implicated in social cognition. While likely of interest to a broad range of social, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscientists, the work is not sufficiently framed by relevant previous research. Moreover, the difference between social (faces) and non-social (fruits) stimuli raises concerns about attentional confounds.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. An ER phospholipid hydrolase drives ER-associated mitochondrial constriction for fission and fusion

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Tricia T Nguyen
   2. Gia K Voeltz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have used state of the art tools to discover and visualize the role of a known ER-localized lipid hydrolase/acyl transferase (which they call Aphyd) in creating lipids that facilitate the localization of proteins required for mitochondrial fission and fusion at nodal points of interaction between the ER and mitochondria. The data are clear, quantitative and compelling in respect to the role of this protein in the processes of mitochondrial constriction, fission and fusion.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Plasmodium infection disrupts the T follicular helper cell response to heterologous immunization

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Mary F Fontana
   2. Erica Ollmann Saphire
   3. Marion Pepper

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Malaria is still one of the world's most deadly diseases because our bodies cannot make appropriate acquired immunity upon Plasmodium infection (the causative agent of malaria). By using animal models of malaria infection and vaccination, this important work shows that Dendritic cells (DCs) have a lower ability to uptake Plasmodium-infected RBCs (particle antigen). This DC dysfunction could be an important reason behind T cell dysfunction in Plasmodium infection. The data presented here convincingly supports the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Future COVID19 surges prediction based on SARS-CoV-2 mutations surveillance

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Fares Z Najar
   2. Evan Linde
   3. Chelsea L Murphy
   4. Veniamin A Borin
   5. Huan Wang
   6. Shozeb Haider
   7. Pratul K Agarwal

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Najar et al., present a method for the identification of the emergence of new variants prior to the accompanying surge in cases by examining the trend of accumulated non-synonymous mutations from the original Wuhan 2020 SARS-CoV-2 strain. This is an interesting idea but requires additional evidence to establish this as a robust tool for predictions.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Dynamics of pulsatile activities of arcuate kisspeptin neurons in aging female mice

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Teppei Goto
   2. Mitsue Hagihara
   3. Kazunari Miyamichi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This interesting manuscript assesses calcium dynamics in the kisspeptin neurons of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus during the estrous cycle and during reproductive aging in female mice. In particular, the authors succeed in tracking arcuate kisspeptin calcium activity in the same mice over 10 months, which is quite impressive and provides novel findings that will be of interest to the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Mechanism of Ca2+ transport by ferroportin

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Jiemin Shen
    2. Azaan Saalim Wilbon
    3. Ming Zhou
    4. Yaping Pan

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study makes an important contribution to the function of the iron transporter Ferroportin (Fpn). By using a combination of proteoliposome assays, mutagenesis and structural studies by cryo EM, the authors are able to demonstrate that the H+-driven transporter for Fe2+-efflux is also capable of passive Ca2+ influx. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, but the rate of Ca2+ influx and the physiological relevance of Ca2+ entry is yet to be established. The work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and biochemists.

    Reviewed by eLife